If someone asked you to explain what Jesus means to you, what would you say? For most of us, I suspect that’s a challenging question to answer, not because we don’t have an answer, but because we have many answers, some of which are difficult to articulate.

But since we are expected to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), I’ll share some of my answer — as much as space allows — with you.

Jesus is my Light (John 1:7-9; 8:12; 9:5). He is the means by which I can find my way in this dark world, and see the pathway out of it into eternal life. If I walk in His light, His blood cleanses me from all my sin (1 John 1:7).

Jesus is my King and my Lord (1 Timothy 6:15). He is the authority of my life (Matthew 28:18), the One to whom I look “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). His being my Lord means I am duty-bound to do His Father’s will (Matthew 7:21).

Jesus is my Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4). As long as I listen to His word and obey it, my spiritual house has a solid foundation on which to stand (Matthew 7:24-25; Luke 6:48).

Jesus is my Friend, because He demonstrated His love for me by sacrificing His life for me: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). He also proves His friendship by revealing to me through His word all that His Father would have me to know (John 15:15). To be a friend to Jesus, I must do as He commands, because that’s what His friends do (John 15:14).

Jesus is my Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep (John 10:11), and goes searching for them when they are lost, that they might be found (Luke 15:3-7). Jesus has done both for me; therefore, as His sheep, I must hear His voice and follow it (John 10:27).

Jesus is my High Priest, who sympathizes with my weaknesses, and allows me, despite those weaknesses, to approach His Father’s throne confidently to obtain His grace and mercy (Hebrews 4:14-16). He makes propitiation for me with God (Hebrews 2:17-18; 1 John 2:2), meaning that He turns aside from me God’s righteous anger over my sins.

Jesus is my food, the Bread of life (John 6:35, 48, 51). He is the source of spiritual sustenance that strengthens me for life’s trials and hardships. As long as I am hungry and thirsty for His righteousness, I am filled with everything I need (Matthew 5:6).

Jesus is my sacrificial Lamb, who has taken away my sins by being slaughtered on my behalf (John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19). Like the scapegoat of the old Law, He has carried my sins away into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:8-22).

Jesus is my Savior, who has rescued me from the penalty of my sins and has given me citizenship in His heavenly kingdom (Philippians 3:20-21).

And in the words of Charles Wesley’s timeless hymn, Jesus is the Lover of my soul — the One who loved my soul enough to surrender His own life in humiliation and torment to preserve it (Ephesians 5:2, 25; Revelation 1:5).